Data privacy: better the nanny state, the Wild West or a coalition of the willing?

After countless data breaches and scandals relating to major tech behemoths’ cavalier usage of our personal data, it would seem natural to assume that Brits have decided to police their own privacy with much greater intent. On the contrary, post-Cambridge Analytica and the #DeleteFacebook movement, UK user numbers have grown over the last year, passing…

After countless data breaches and scandals relating to major tech behemoths’ cavalier usage of our personal data, it would seem natural to assume that Brits have decided to police their own privacy with much greater intent. On the contrary, post-Cambridge Analytica and the #DeleteFacebook movement, UK user numbers have grown over the last year, passing 40 million for the first time (around 60 per cent of the UK population).

Furthermore, the rate at which people accept default options and blindly accept T&Cs and privacy policies only increases as our digital lives become more cluttered. According to a survey by Deloitte, 90% of consumers accept legal terms and conditions without reading them.

If we can’t help ourselves as consumers, who will?

Data Protection Day 2019: Privacy firmly in the limelight

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A new era in data awareness

Consumer protections

Enter Her Majesty’s Government. It seems that various factions across Government have come to the conclusion, almost in unison, that greater consumer protections are needed. With GDPR still the soundtrack to last summer that’s ringing in our ears, a slew of Government activity is underway to crack down on big tech companies, and some is directed specifically at ensuring greater privacy protections.

Millions of Google users may have had their online browsing habits secretly tracked and passed on to advertisers, new reports have claimed.An investigation by privacy-focused browser Brave found that Google used hidden secret web pages to collect user data and create profiles that would let users be subjected to targeted adverts.The evidence is now being…

About the authorBernard Parsons is the CEO of Becrypt.The world of encryption is changing more than ever before. Today a lot of smaller businesses are looking at adding encryption for the first time, driven by recent regulations such as GDPR, and those that require encryption as part of the privacy enforcing mechanisms. However, along with…

About the author

Bernard Parsons is the CEO of Becrypt.

The world of encryption is changing more than ever before. Today a lot of smaller businesses are looking at adding encryption for the first time, driven by recent regulations such as GDPR, and those that require encryption as part of the privacy enforcing mechanisms. However, along with the benefits that encryption offers, there are also challenges that these smaller businesses are faced with when looking to adopt.

Based on the experience and feedback that Becrypt has attained, I have summarized the top-five issues that small businesses with software should think about if they are looking at adopting disk encryption, or if they’re looking at undertaking wider roll-outs of disk encryption.

See the best secure VPN providers for encryption

Ease of use

Organisations must look for products that are easy to use, easy and quick to install. These are obvious requirements that are partly about reducing the time and expertise required to install products in the first place. An important subsequent point is also total cost of ownership. If a product is not easy to install, it is usually a good indicator of a level of complexity that will remain as a long-term business overhead.

The more complex a product is, the more complexity there is to manage. This leads to higher levels of required expertise. It also increases the potential for support issues to occur over time. This drives up the product’s total cost of ownership for the organisation.

See the best in secure USB drives

Accessible support

Encryption can be a business-critical management asset, as well as a business-enabling technology. It’s therefore important that you’re working with an organisation – whether that

About the authorRichard Meeus is Security Technology and Strategy Director for Akamai’s EMEA region.Following a few tumultuous years of data breaches, cybersecurity vulnerabilities have been pushed to the front of the news agenda. However, despite cybersecurity budgets increasing, the threats and number of breaches continues to rise, highlighting that the current approach businesses are taking…

About the author

Following a few tumultuous years of data breaches, cybersecurity vulnerabilities have been pushed to the front of the news agenda. However, despite cybersecurity budgets increasing, the threats and number of breaches continues to rise, highlighting that the current approach businesses are taking – particularly small and medium-sized businesses – to protect their networks remain insufficient.

So, why are businesses continuing to invest in traditional network security measures that don’t appear to protect their data, and how should they use emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), to secure their networks?

EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), businesses have had to change how they go about cybersecurity, and quickly. But the race in ensuring compliance, while keeping up to date on the latest threats, has left many security teams feeling stretched. Fortunately, one emerging technology may hold the key to helping secure these networks from internal and external bad actors: AI.

Machines to the rescue?

When an AI system is given access to an organisation’s internal network and monitoring systems, it can act as a million extra sets of eyes for an

About the authorCharles Eagan is the Chief Technology Officer for BlackBerry.UK enterprises are demonstrating a high degree of growth in their awareness of the need to secure data. Yet, the biggest misconception is the belief that as long as organisations have a strong security posture, they’re safe.Charles Eagan, Chief Technology Officer at BlackBerry, discusses the…

About the author

Charles Eagan is the Chief Technology Officer for BlackBerry.

UK enterprises are demonstrating a high degree of growth in their awareness of the need to secure data. Yet, the biggest misconception is the belief that as long as organisations have a strong security posture, they’re safe.

of security issues as well as their global and shareholder responsibility to protect data, and they’re reaching out to experts.

Recent events, where mass privacy breaches have occurred, have raised public awareness of the importance of transparency and responsible stewardship when it comes to how organisations manage their data.

Organisations are responding to consumer concerns over protection of their personal data.

GDPR has triggered a massive introspective focus within corporations, prompting reviews of privacy and data policies. Companies are now waking up to the need to secure data, and to the global governance elements of data collection.

What do you think is the biggest misconception preventing organisations from understanding the importance of developing a cyber resilience strategy in today’s digital economy?